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Welcome to Our Photo Gallery & Travelblog
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31 December 2005: We enjoyed lunch with Thomas Peichl and his family, his wife Connie, their two new daughters Laura Michelle and Hannah Jeanine, and his parents, my former landlords. After a long nap, we enjoyed another fine meal prepared by Chef Marlies then welcomed 2006 by setting off fireworks in the street, a rowdy tradition when neighbors wish each other a happy new year. Today, we rest. Tom is still coughing and I have a cold. Yuck. 30 December 2005: We made a trip to Marburg, a university town, north of Frankfurt. In below freezing temperatures, we walked along the stone streets filled with beautiful half-timbered houses, churches, and shops. At the top of the hill, there is a beautiful castle. Marburg is one of the four classical "university villages" in Germany, the other three being Göttingen, Heidelberg, and Tübingen. Most famous internationally, however, were the Brothers Grimm, who collected many of their fairy tales here - Rapunzel's Tower stands in Marburg, and across the Lahn hills, in the area called Schwalm, little girls' costumes included a red hood... 28 December 2005: I enjoyed walking around the town of Friedberg with Henning this afternoon after a surprise overnight snowfall. We then took a short drive through the town of Bad Nauheim, a spa resort town. Tom recuperated in the hotel room in the afternoon. We then had an enjoyable visit with my former neighbors, Erika and Volker Bitterlich. Erika made delicious goulash soup, a welcome hot meal for this snowy day, and Volker poured the red wine. 27 December 2005: We have spent the Christmas holidays with the Schulze family enjoying their tree with real candles, delicious German food prepared by Marlies, and their company. This morning we awoke to a surpise snowfall of about 3-4 inches. More snow is predicted for tonight. Tom is still coughing, so I will venture out with Henning to take photos. 24 December 2005: My younger sister passed away on Christmas Eve five years ago. We miss her. 22 December 2005: Henning and I are better; Tom says he has the flu. Being in the cold air for 8 hours made him feel worse. Good news: The Frankfurt Eintracht football/soccer team won in overtime! Later 21 Dec 2005: Tom and Henning went to the soccer game. Boys will be boys. I was going to go but my stomach is rebelling against cheese that I ate on pizza and creme that I ate in some cake plus this bug. Bugs always hit us where we're weak. For Tom, his sinuses are acting up. For Henning, his ear aches and his throat is sore. For me, my guts are gurgling, my left ear aches, and my head hurts. Weather improved today with some SUN that warmed up the temperature just a few degrees above freezing. I must pick the boys up at the train station late tonight. I hope I hear the phone ring! 21 December 2005: We are all sick with sinus problems, sore throats, ear aches, and stomach problems. Cold, rainy weather; Erwin calls it ugly, unkind weather. We took a drive and did some shopping in Friedberg. I uploaded more photos in our gallery. IF we all get well enough, we will go to a soccer game in Frankfurt tonight. 19 December 2005: On Sunday, we took a drive through some of the nearby villages. We ate lunch at the Brauhaus in Friedberg. I was lucky again. My favorite cafe/bakery was open so I bought a "Mandelen Mandarinen Sahne Kucken"/almond mandarin orange cream cake to share with the Schulzes. Delicious. We walked to the local pizza restaurant operated by a Greek. He is celebrating 30 years in this restaurant in Ilbenstadt on Wednesday. Our waitress was a beautiful young black woman from Kenya who has taught herself German since living here for two years. More snow showers today, but no accumulation. Tom's not feeling well with a sore throat and achey muscles. Henning is also sick. I'm heading out to do some light shopping for Christmas paper and small gifts. Later on 17 December 2005: Too much snow to drive to Ilbenstadt! The hotel's French restaurant is closed on the weekends, so we walked over to an Italian restaurant near the train station. The food was delicious! A nice surprise. We hope that the roads will be clear tomorrow so we can take a drive and some snapshots of this winter wonderland! 17 December 2005: We ate the infamous "Doner", aka doner kabobs, for lunch with Henning in Karben. Henning told us that these are the best doners in this area so we complimented the Greek chef/owner on this accomplishment. Then we took the train to the very crowded Christmas Market in downtown Frankfurt. The holiday decorations were cheery. There were many stands offering GlueWein (hot wine), sausages, and sweets. I had luck finding a purse and replacing a lost cotton scarf that Susan gave me years ago when we both lived in Frankfurt. Tom calls this my "Yassar Arafat" scarf. The weather was cold and windy with some rain, then the sky cleared to reveal a full moon. This morning the mud-puddles in the construction area by the hotel are frozen and there is a dusting of snow. We did not sleep well last night waking up around 3 AM. We both had to get up for awhile. I edited and uploaded a few snapshots from the Christmas Market. So, we're droopy this morning. We'll drive over to visit the Schulze family later this afternoon then walk to the village pizzeria for dinner. It does take a few days for our bodies to adjust from losing a night's sleep! 15 December 2005: After a very long and crowded flight to Germany, we arrived tired, but safe. Of all the places that we have traveled in the recent years, this is where I feel "home." We visited the Schulze family for a short time and then slept like babies through the night. Our hotel is clean and comfortable, but old with a view of a construction site. Not good, but we won't be here much, just to shower and sleep. After shopping for WATER, we will go to the Frankfurt Christmas Markt by train with Henning, in the cold rain. Ah, good times! 13 December 2005: Our bags are packed and off to Germany we go. Ho, ho, ho! 05 December 2005: My flight back to Brookings was delayed by one day because of a crew shortage. I had to rent a car and drive back to Mom and Dad's for one more night. Flights on Saturday went well, no bad weather and no delays. Jan M. was on the San Francisco-Crescent City, CA, flight and we had a few minutes to chat while waiting in the commuter terminal. Richard and Tom chatted a few minutes while waiting for us in the airport terminal. I was very happy to get back home to Tom, Harry, and Sadie. Weather has been cool but sunny; days are too short with the sun setting quickly around 5 PM. It's time for laundry, cleaning, haircut, appointments with doctor and dentist, then packing for our holiday trip to Germany next week. Tom rescued my lost pages for this site by downloading the pages from the internet site. Changing a file's name is a bad idea! This always results in broken links and missing pages. Tom to the rescue! |
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